Best/Worst Finales of 2015-16

As part of our mid-year extravaganzas here’s a look through our favorite and least favorite finales of the season, and – SPOILER ALERT – we actually were satisfied with most of the season’s finales. Also, there are spoilers!

Best Season Finales of 2016

Nashville

LET Nashville Die. The ending was perfect. Was I ready for the show, which I had briefly quit, to end? No. Did everything wrap up perfectly? YES. Nothing is more perfect in this world than a happy ending for Rayna and a death for Juliette like that of her idol, Patsy Cline.
– Katherine M. Hill

Game of Thrones

There are no longer any books to guide us on this journey, just outrageous fanfare theories and this season nicely confirmed many of them. Jon snow’s true Targ identity is revealed, Dany is FINALLY headed to Westeros Thank goodness with a heap of ships and dragons and Cersai is now Miss Mad Queen leaving Jamie looking a bit worried on his return to King’s Landing. Seriously, what more could anyone ask for?
– Navani Otero

Better Call Saul

As much as a slow-burn show like this can go nuclear, Saul went straight to Defcon One with their finale as Chuck has finally mucked up Jimmy in his own web of lies and has the recording to prove it. Even darker, Jimmy’s die was cast when his compulsion to help his brother forced him to show his hand and rush to his aid. Meanwhile, Mike’s out in the jungle setting to sniper his first kill when he’s distracted by a loud alarm, retreats to his car, where he finds a note which the internets have decided is the return of an old favorite.
– Jason Thurston

Girls

So you hate-watch the entire season of whiny, sniveling semi-adults who you realize are not nice to each other and have lost all their redeeming qualities when alas the finale comes. (Really, what friend sleeps with your ex without getting throat-punched?) In the end, Hannah is the victor as she decides not to spiral into self-destruction over the betrayal, but instead uses it to fuel a new chapter in her life: storytelling. She ends writing again, on her terms and finding her voice and herself in the process as the season ends with her awesome moth performance. It’s back to the Hannah I could relate to in the earlier seasons, she is confused but honest and somehow still making progress.
– Navani Otero

… And The Worst of Them

Broad City

Yes, this is our number one show here on Screen Scholars and Abbi and Ilana are both my BFFs in my head. So, maybe that’s why after such a stellar season of growth and character development I felt a little underwhelmed by the season finale. Ok, a lot underwhelmed. We never get any closure on the recent events that transpired with Trey and Abbi or Ilana’s break up with Lincoln. The Jewish baby penis jokes were too much even for them and the fact that they never actually went anywhere physically felt pointless.

– Navani Otero

The Walking Dead

When I first reviewed this here, I gave it a solid A-, and oddly enough, I stand by that grade. And this has nothing to do with the provocative entrance of one Mr. Negan, and the way they handled the mystery surrounding the exit of a (likely) major player. My beef with The Walking Dead’s finale has more to do with the lingering – and growing – lack of faith surrounding the gory wild goose chase on which the Saviors sent our heroes. While the wild ride was genuinely fun, and the walker red rover line is seared in my memory – for perpetuity – there is no conceivable way they could have anticipated Rick & the Gang’s actions on that day. Hey, it’s Walking Dead, and like Chris Hardwick, I’ll accept a lot of ridiculousness, but there’s a limit.
– Jason Thurston

How I Met Your Mother

Everything about it was so, so wrong. It was a disservice to the show (and yes, the audience), to kill the mother and waste so much time on getting Robin and Barney together, only to learn that they would break up, allowing Ted to reunite with Robin. I can’t even watch the reruns.
– Katherine M. Hill

… And the Whaaaa?!

Veep

Wait, Selina is no longer president, just like that? That is not only a major buzzkill but felt more like an ending to the entire series. It made me immediately panic, until I figured out it is def coming back for season 6, phew. Now we’ll have to see what the show will be like when she is no longer in the White House.
– Navani Otero